Difference between revisions of "Biblical longevity"

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==Possible explanations==
 
==Possible explanations==
 
*[[Tolerance|Some]] suggested that [[free will]] enables an individual to defy God's commands.
 
*[[Tolerance|Some]] suggested that [[free will]] enables an individual to defy God's commands.
 +
*Allegedly, there is a [[conspiracy theory]] which explains the differentiation.
 
*Records on secrets of longevity was eaten by the [[goat]]s, and the Bible is patched subsequently to accomodate that.
 
*Records on secrets of longevity was eaten by the [[goat]]s, and the Bible is patched subsequently to accomodate that.
  

Revision as of 21:45, 29 May 2009

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Some characters in the Bible simply live too long (in terms of hundreds of years[1]) despite God's command after the flood.

The scriptures says...

After God has seen how wicked humanity is, he decrees an upper limit to the age of humans after the flood.

Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

If this statement is true, we should not expect anyone to have a life longer than 120 years after the flood. However, in later passages of the Bible there are people who blatantly defy this command and live far more than 120 years.

Examples

  • Noah lived for 950[2] years (That's longer than Adam!)
    • It's 350 years even if you don't count the years he lived before the flood[3].
    • Although the rule may have not been retroactively applied (he may have been grandfathered in).
  • Shem lived for like 600[4] years, so he pretty much got grandfathered in as well.
    • It's not clear why Japheth is not grandfathered in as well (Ham probably did not get grandfathered in due to the Curse of Ham)
  • Pretty much every one of Shem's firstborn descendants[5] as well (Extends all the way to Jacob[6]!)

Possible explanations

  • Some suggested that free will enables an individual to defy God's commands.
  • Allegedly, there is a conspiracy theory which explains the differentiation.
  • Records on secrets of longevity was eaten by the goats, and the Bible is patched subsequently to accomodate that.

See also

Footnotes

  1. That's before we count
    • 2 Peter 3:8
      But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
    and other time-dilation/expansion events/techniques.
  2. Genesis 9:29
  3. Genesis 9:28
    And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
  4. Genesis 11:10-11
    These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
    And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
  5. Genesis 11:12-32
  6. After Terah they are: